Seoul | Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un on Wednesday that included a mutual defence pledge, one of Russia’s most significant moves in Asia for years that Mr Kim said amounted to an “alliance”.
Mr Putin’s pledge overhauls Russia’s entire post-Soviet policy on North Korea just as the United States and its Asian allies try to gauge how far Russia could deepen support for the only country to have tested a nuclear weapon this century.
